By Hillary Boucher, Community Manager The Community Roundtable.

Earlier this summer I told you about the Champion Program we’ve been working on and I introduced you to our first Champion, Maddie Grant, who has done an awesome job of adding programming to the network with an association/non-profit lens. I’d now like to introduce you to another Champion. Meet Jennifer Honig, executive director at Techstra Solutions.

Jennifer, tell us a little bit about your background.

I began my post-MBA career as a management consultant focused on reengineering/change management. This led me to Young & Rubicam where I ran the Key Corporate Account Group (multiple lines of business/geographies).  At Y&R, we faced the challenge of connecting our global network to service clients. We leveraged technology to create a global intranet; one of the first in the industry. We were excited to share best practices especially around creative work. I was captivated by what was happening in technology and went to work for several tech start-ups. I led Marketing and Public Relations, building global brands and positioning executives as industry leaders. 

Fast forward to the advent of social communities and internal/external social media. “Social” brings engagement to an entirely new level – it builds brands (corporate and personal), communities, and networks that disrupt the status quo and change the game.  Technology is the tool and I am the conduit, enabling companies to harness its power.

Tell us about your current work. 

I started Techstra Solutions to help companies address the opportunities that social collaboration brings to their organizations. Our offerings continue to expand as social networks and communities add business value to drive innovation, improve productivity, and company transformation.

Many executives feel challenged by how to utilize social networks(internal/external) in a leadership capacity. However, they acknowledge the need to do so. In my discussions with community managers and corporate leaders, I realized that executive engagement is a challenge for many and an essential element that must be addressed for initiatives to thrive. This is why I was excited to become a Champion in TheCR Network on the topic of executive leadership.

What working group you will be facilitating here at TheCR?

The Social Executive

What are your goals or what is your vision for the group?

Executive engagement is the “Holy Grail” of community initiatives; highly sought and rarely achieved. If achieved, it is with just a few executives, not en masse.

Coaching an executive is challenging and time consuming, taxing limited resources. My goal is to bring together this group to help “Crack the Code”  of executive engagement. Together we can create best practices and a knowledge base that will pave the way for others.

What is your proudest moment as a community builder?

An executive that I work with 1:1 moved beyond posting/engaging with the national team that he leads and started to engage globally. Creating a personal communication strategy for executives works! When you help someone realize the benefits of utilizing these systems to accomplish their business goals, they get it. It just takes time, continuous reinforcement, and for some, a leap of  faith.

And for good measure, tell us about a ‘community on the side’ that you are passionate about. Something you are passionate about outside of work. 

I am excited that winter is coming! I am an avid skier and my daughters (Samantha and Grayson) are racers on the ski team at 7 Springs. I am taking an active role in building a community around the ski team and its member families. It is great to be able to apply what I know to an organization that is so important to our family.

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Want to collaborate with community champions like Jennifer Honig? Join TheCR Network!